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About a month ago, my mom called to tell me that my dad had just come home from their local food coop with a bag full of clam juice bottles. He had just learned to make chowder, and when my dad finds something that works, he likes to repeat it. Often.
My mom went on about how easy and riff-able chowder is. You can add any vegetable you want! You don't need to make it thick with a flour-based roux! You don't even need the clam juice, she said.
So I started experimenting with my own variations on weeknight chowder, landing on a springy halibut, leek, new potato, and pea chowder in a light broth made with clam juice, water, and just a bit of cream for richness. (Though cod might be a more traditional chowder choice, I love halibut in chowder for its meatier texture and sweeter flavor.) The leeks add earthy sweetness, while peas, pea shoots, basil, and a sprinkle of lemon zest give my chowder an extra dose of freshness and intrigue. I like to apply black pepper generously before serving—it brings everything together just right.
As does the clam juice. I'm sorry, Mama, but clam juice really does make a difference. With just water and cream, my chowder tasted bland and thin; with clam juice, the soup was deep and rich and briny. The clam juice is essential.
And not all clam juice is the same. My favorite brand, which we always stock in the Test Kitchen, comes from Maine, as does so much good seafood. Bar Harbor Foods has been canning local Downeast Maine seafood products since 1917, and their clam juice is as pure as it gets. It doesn't taste fishy or tinny or dirty—it tastes like pure concentrate of ocean, and it comes in the cutest little glass bottle adorned with a picture of a sailboat. Clam juice, which is actually not the "juice" of clams but the byproduct of steaming whole clams, is super briny, so a little goes a long way. One eight-ounce bottle is plenty for a whole pot of chowder—I add water and a touch of cream to the pot to get the balance just right.
But chowder isn't the only reason to keep clam juice in the cupboard. A dash of clam juice added to any seafood dish you are cooking, from risotto to pasta and more, will deepen the flavor. A splash in your next bloody Mary (or Maria!) will be the secret ingredient you'll never leave out again. Buy a bottle (or a whole bag of bottles, like my dad) and you'll see—it's the pantry essential you'll never want to go without again.
